A computer mouse device is an accessory that is commonly used as a companion to a computer keyboard. The mouse has a mouse ball that is located in an interior ball cavity. The mouse ball is held loosely inside of the interior ball cavity by a removable cover that has an opening with a smaller diameter than the mouse and extends outwardly through the cover opening when the mouse is positioned ball side down. In use, movement of the mouse across a mouse pad or other flat surface causes the mouse ball to roll inside of the interior ball cavity, thereby causing mouse contact rollers inside of the mouse to roll. The movement of the mouse contact rollers is then translated into instructions that ultimately cause a cursor on a connected computer screen to move in response to movement of the mouse ball across the mouse pad.
Over time, the mouse ball can become dirty, or even sticky. In addition, dust, hair and other contaminants can get inside of the mouse through the opening in the removable cover and stick on the mouse contact rollers or mechanical parts. When either of these things happen, the ability of the mouse to properly function will be impaired, or the mouse may even cease functioning. To remedy such a situation, the mouse cover must be removed and the parts of the mouse must be cleaned.
At present, there is no inexpensive, easy way to clean a dirty mouse device. If the cover is removed, the mouse ball can easily be removed. However, if the mouse ball or the inside of the mouse are not properly cleaned, the mouse may still not function properly even after it is cleaned. This can cause frustration by users, or even result in discarding a dirty mouse in favor of a new, clean mouse.
One cleaning kit that is presently being sold for cleaning mouse devices is called Mouse Doctor.TM. . This kit instructs its user to first remove the ball from the mouse device. Next, compressed air is sprayed into the interior cavity to remove dust particles. Next, cleaning pads and cleaning swabs are used to wipe the mouse contact rollers clean and the ball is replaced for operation. If the mouse contact rollers have a heavy build-up of grime, the user is instructed to saturate the swab with isopropyl alcohol before scrubbing the rollers. However, this cleaning kit is relatively expensive, and the cleaning process is cumbersome.
Accordingly, there is a need for an inexpensive, simple, easy to use cleaning kit that can be used to clean computer mouse devices and thereby increase their performance.